iPad and the kids

When Apple's Big I-s are all over in everyone's pockets, hands and heads, iPhone, iPod, iTouch, i-Whatever, I never felt like being part of it. However, before I went to China, the need for a light-weight computer made me check out mobile tablets at BestBuy.

I decided on an IPad and was sold on the first day. Because I, as many of parents before me, found out that iPad can be a pretty good baby-sitter. I got all sorts of apps for the kids. For Yung, Fish HD, Counting Bears, A-B-C, Matching games, books like Present for Milo: A Touch-and-Surprise Storybook; For Annya, one after another read-to-me books, I-can-read-books, animated books; For Emma, Math-bingo, Second-grade math. For all of them, drawing apps, piano apps, singing fingers, singing monsters. I also bought a one-year subscription of "A story before bed", where we read and record books ourselves.

It is a smash! It is a smash-proof too! Being super light-weighted and small means Yung can carry it around like anyone else, and when he drops it, it lands with a thud, yet safe and sound; it is so easy to use, Yung learn to use it before he learns how to eat with a spoon. It is probably anti-stabbing too, it survives the stabbing of pencils, forks and pens (the warranty we bought does allow us a bit of freedom and peace of mind too). The only drawback is that it is too sensitive to the touch. Too often we had open and re-open a book in the middle of reading because Yung's has accidentally or deliberately touched the home button. Touching-buttons is fun and makes you feel powerful, that is probably why Yung touches all of the buttons nonstop.

The kids have a lot of fun. And a lot of pain. Isn't true that for kids, any source of fun can easily be a pain of butt? And for three kids? Certainly. Who gets to play the iPad? Who gets to play what on the iPad? Mine, mine, mine ..., Yung would scream; No counting bears, I want a princess song, Annya gets whinny easily; No do not play with my 2-grade math, Emma would demand. And I would constantly police, Share, please, Annya. If you guys do not play together, no iPad.

In the end though, at the end of the day, the kids still want to a book that is not iPad-read.

Mommy, can you read me one more book?
Yes, Annya.
Night-night. Yung would say and turn off the night.

The following is the book link that Emma reads Cinderella.

Cinderella (Read By Emma)



Our recordings on http://www.astorybeforebed.com